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Giovanni
"''Incest, organized crime, death cults - that's the Giovanni. Spaghetti and corpses, boss."'' The youngest of the true clans, the Giovanni were founded by Venetian merchant, necromancer and all-around bastard Augustus Giovanni, who got himself embraced by the founder of a clan of scholarly death-mystics in the medieval period. Some betrayal, diablerie and wholesale genocide later, that clan is long gone and the Giovanni stand in their place in the long night. Based in Italy, the Giovanni have their fingers in a lot of pies - mostly the Mafia and organised crime. However, this is not the root of their unsavoury reputation - the Giovanni are masters of the dark art of necromancy, and many members of the clan are true masters of ghosts and the dead. Why the clan has cultivated these powers and what Augustus' end goals might be are the matter of some debate, but the Giovanni aren't talking. The family-clan presents an outward demeanour of Catholic piety, respectability and honour, but the rumours that haunt this cabal of necromancers are dark indeed. Practices The practices of Clan Giovanni are intricately tied up with the traditions of the mortal Venetian Giovanni family. Competition for the coveted Embrace is fierce in the mortal families that owe allegiance to the clan, and many family members are ghouls in preparation for induction to the true inner-circle. In addition to this atmosphere of intense competition and Mafia-like omerta, there are whispers of darker practices - accusations of incest, necrophilia and cannibalism dog the mortal and immortal branches of the Giovanni alike. It's suggested that this carefully cultivated atmosphere of paranoia, shame and guilt keeps the family close, as much out of the belief that no-one else can ever accept a freak like you as anything else. Most of them probably aren't true. Most. Covenants and Sects The Giovanni are an independent clan, claiming no part in Camarilla or Sabbat and sworn by oath to the Camarilla not to interfere in Kindred politics, take positions of temporal power in Camarilla cities, or take part in the Jyhad. In truth the Giovanni's goals are almost completely divergent from the endless shadow war of the sects, and the Giovanni are as much of a sect in their own right as a clan. This insular nature means the Giovanni also tend not to be aligned with the lesser covenants, though it's not too unusual for individual members of the clan to work with the covenants (as long as they remember where their true allegiance lies.) If associated with any covenant, the Giovanni is most likely to be involved with the Ordo Dracul, Invictus or Lancea Sanctum, in descending order of likelihood; membership of the Carthian movement is extremely rare, though more magically-inclined Giovanni may choose to throw in with the Circle of the Crone, melding their pagan blood-magics of Crúac with the clan's own necromantic teachings. Giovanni Antitribu A relatively small and very tightly-knit clan, the youngest of the Thirteen have almost no Antitribu in the Sabbat, if there are any at all. Any theoretical Giovanni antitribu would be valued for their talents of Necromancy, but are equally likely to run afoul of the family they have betrayed and the mysterious terrifying bloodline of elders who call themselves the Harbingers of Skulls. Disciplines and Systems The Giovanni are primarily known for their art of Necromancy, a discipline and associated school of blood magic they developed from their predecessors' now lost Mortis discipline and their own arts of nigrimancy. This focus on a discipline that allows control over the dead is echoed in their other clan disciplines' focus on control - Giovanni have a predilection toward the disciplines of Dominate and Potence. Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Necromancy, Potence. Favoured attributes: Strength or Resolve. Weakness: Augustus Giovanni's betrayal of his clan and his sire has left its mark on his progeny through the curse of his diablerised sister-in-the-blood Lamia: the Giovanni bite does not cause the blissful swoon of the Kiss like other clans. Instead, the Giovanni bite is horribly painful, and mortals Giovanni feed from suffer double the normal levels of lethal damage. Local Giovanni The Giovanni have not had any stake in Portland until very recently, when a mere decades-old Irish adoptive member of the Clan-Family, Art Fitzgerald, moved to the city to expand the clan's powerbase there following the fall of the local Camarilla, as well as to pursue his own necromantic studies. Category:Clans/Bloodlines